


I Met Her On the Web

by AriPretzel



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Clexa, F/F, Linctavia - Freeform, Maybe - Freeform, Spider-Woman AU, SpiderWoman!Lexa, doctor!clarke, ranya
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-07
Updated: 2018-08-22
Packaged: 2018-10-16 03:57:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 16,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10563207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AriPretzel/pseuds/AriPretzel
Summary: After a fateful night, Clarke Griffin finds herself tangled in a web of conspiracy and danger as she tries to unravel the secret of New York's favorite superhero, Spider-Woman.





	1. Good Samaritan

“Have a good night, Dr. Griffin!” A fellow resident calls out to Clarke as the latter high-tails it out of there. Clarke only lifts her hand in response as she continues speed-walking out the door. It was all she could muster for how exhausted she is.

“WHAM!” Clarke slams her car door as soon as she’s inside. It had been a long day at the hospital. She had just finished a 24 hour shift at work, needless to say it had been a long day, and being in her third and last year of residency, the days were only getting longer. She sinks into her seat, releasing a deep breath as if she was expelling all the stress from work. After a few minutes of sitting, Clarke pulls out her phone to text her roommate, Octavia.

_Clarke: Hey finally off work, i kno ur probably still at Lincolns but if you come home pls dont wake me up until at least dinner time_

_Octavia: Gotcha get some rest_  
_Octavia: Also I did ur laundry_

_Clarke: You are a godsend. what are you doing up right now?_

_Octavia: I’m at Lincoln’s you really want me to answer that?_

_Clarke: ew no thanks_

Clarke rolls her eyes and drops her phone into the cup holder to switch her focus on driving. She turns the car on and pulls out of the parking lot. The sky was still dark, the barest hint of a lighter blue peeking from the East showed there was still a couple hours before sunrise. There wasn’t really anyone out driving or walking around this time, that’s why Clarke was surprised to see a figure on the side of the road, just ahead. She planned to ignore them, until she saw the familiar vibrant red and blue colors of New York City’s resident hero. That definitely piqued her interest. Curiosity getting to her, she slows down to assess the situation.

The figure was indeed Spider-Woman. The suit was just too real not to be, but Clarke didn’t have time to admire it, as she noticed something was definitely wrong.  
_What’s she doing here? Why isn’t she just using her webs to swing home?_ Clarke thought.

Spider-Woman was limping slowly down the street, suit torn to shreds. Her shoulder was completely exposed showing off several deep lacerations. The cuts on her left thigh and right forearm were still bleeding. Clarke went right into doctor mode, deducing that she definitely needed sutures, bandages and she estimated by the amount of blood-loss the hero was showing, Spider-Woman shouldn’t be conscious, let alone walking.

Police sirens wailed in the distance and then screeched passed, most likely towards whatever, Clarke assumed, Spider-Woman was walking away from. Clarke didn’t even think before pulling over next to the woman and rolling down her window.

She couldn’t believe Spider-Woman was right in front of her. Whoever the masked heroine had fought, must have been serious and Clarke was surprised she hadn’t heard about what happened while at work. Polis General always seemed to be treating a patient saved by Spider-Woman: burning buildings, falling cranes, construction accidents; Spider-Woman was always dropping people off. Her heart pounded as she thought of how to approach the current situation.

Spider-Woman was getting slightly further away when Clarke blurted the first thing that came to mind.

"Need a ride?" Clarke winces as soon as the words come out of her mouth.

Spider-Woman looks up slightly alarmed. She was definitely out of it.

"Thank you, but I can manage." The hero rasps out, slightly muffled from her mask.

"You're limping and leaving quite the trail of blood, to be honest, I’m not even sure how you’re standing right now." Clarke tries again.

Spider-Woman looks down at herself and sighs. The cute blonde is right, she’s in no shape to make it home, she’s not even sure if she’s going the right way, she usually navigates the city from a much higher point, so walking around the city on the ground, when she couldn’t exactly see or think clearly wasn’t helping.

"I'll be fine." She says feigning confidence. Clarke quickly realizes the predicament she put the hero in by accident. Spider-Woman needs help that much is clear, but getting into a strangers car while you were injured probably wasn’t a good idea. Plus, she’s heard of the crazy fans who would do anything to meet Spider-Woman and this could sound like some weird trap. Clarke quickly stumbles over her explanation to clear things up.

"I’m Clarke Griffin. I’m completing my residency over at Polis General. I can take you there and-”

“No thank you, I don’t do hospitals.” Spider-Woman cuts her off and continues hobbling down the sidewalk rather slowly. Clarke follows with her car.

“Oh- okay that’s no problem. I can take you to my apartment. I have some supplies there in my kit, and you can keep the mask on. I just want to help.”

“Cause that doesn’t sound suspicious.” Spider-Woman almost laughs but seems to wince in pain.

“Yeah.. you’re right that didn’t exactly come out.. right.” Clarke sighs. “I could just give you ride, drop you off closer to wherever you’re going at least.”

Spider-Woman’s face shifts under her mask and Clarke knows she’s about to decline or tell her to go away until she stumbles, barely catching herself.

"Fine." The hero relents. "No alerting the press or authorities, no pictures and no questions."

"Agreed." Clarke puts her car in park and gets out to help Spider-Woman. She opens the passenger door and holds out her hand. Spider-Woman shakily reaches out and grabs Clarke’s wrist. Clarke is surprised at the strong grip for such an injured person but says nothing of it. Spider-Woman climbs in slowly.

Once back in the car, Clarke looks over at her new passenger but quickly snaps her head back to the road once she realizes the big almost comical white eyes from the mask are staring back at her.

“What was that?” Spider-Woman says. If Clarke knew any better she would’ve thought Spider-Woman was amused.

"S-sorry I just really thought you would say no. I'm kind of shocked."

Spider-Woman chuckles which quickly turns into wince and a smothered groan. "I'm quite good at surprising people... or so I'm told."

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind." Clarke says pulling the car back into the lane to continue the drive.

The hero leans her head back, breathing erratic.

Clarke scrambles to keep a conversation going so Spider-Woman stays conscious. Thankfully she doesn’t have to think long before Spider-Woman breaks the silence. Her head lolls to its side so she's looking towards Clarke, once again.

"Why are you helping me?”

"I am a doctor, well almost a doctor." Clarke responds as if that’s enough of an explanation.

Spider-Woman doesn’t respond.

Clarke slows to a stop at the intersection and looks both ways even though there wasn’t any traffic. “Okay which way from her- Spider-Woman?” Clarke glances over and sees she’s not responding.  
“Spider-Woman?” She reaches over grabbing the woman’s limp wrist to check her pulse but there’s a strange metal wrist gauntlet of some kind blocking the way. She was about to reach for her neck when she saw the steady rise and fall of her chest. _Must have passed out from the blood loss, or the exhaustion.. Probably both._ Clarke thinks.

“Shit.” Clarke shakes her head trying to make up her mind.

“My place it is then.” She steps on the gas and turns left towards her apartment.

She gets home quickly thanks to her speeding and turns off the car. Turning towards the masked woman she finally gets a good look. The suit was pretty detailed and vibrant, she could tell why the city was so fascinated by its very own hero. It was made from some very strong material that Clarke couldn’t identify. The red parts of the suit had a black pattern over it, resembling a web. At the center of her chest sat a black spider whose front legs reached up to her shoulders and wrapped around, at least on the right shoulder that was still together. The blue material covered most of her legs and her underarms. Lastly, Clarke looked at the mask again. The big white eyes outlined in black, were shiny and Clarke could see her reflection in them. Clarke startles at the sudden shuddering breath that came from Spider-Woman. Clarke snaps back to the situation at hand, glad no one was there to witness her staring.

Switching back to doctor mode, Clarke needs to raise the woman’s legs above her head and remove any constrictive clothing. Surveying the suit once again she realizes the whole suit is pretty constrictive and it’s not like she can take off… that, so Clarke zeroes in on the mask. She makes a decision she’s sure she’ll regret later.

“Sorry, Spider-Woman.” She says to the unconscious woman.

Clarke hesitantly reaches over not realizing she’s holding her breath. As soon as her hand comes into contact with the mask, Spider-Woman’s hand shoots up grasping Clarke’s wrists, stopping her from moving.

“Do _not_ touch the mask.” Spider-Woman says surprisingly stern for having just been unconscious.

Clarke nearly jumps out of her skin. “I- I’m sorry, I wasn’t sure if you could breathe. You passed out.” She pulls her hand back and puts some space between them.

Spider-Woman sits up slightly and looks out the window. “Where are we?” She growls out.

“I didn’t know where to take you once you passed out, so I brought you to my apartment. I promise I won’t.. Try anything. I’m only concerned with your health.” Clarke says sincerely.

The masked hero is quiet for a moment. She knows she needs help, she just doesn’t want to admit it, or actually take the chance with this woman. This Clarke, could be lying about being a doctor for all she knew. She wanted to get up and swing away with her web but she knew she couldn’t.

“The mask stays on. Now help me up and let’s get this over with.”

Clarke nods and runs around the car to open the door for her. She holds out her hand for the hero to take. Once Spider-Woman is standing, she makes sure to stand up tall and act as if she is not even injured even though Clarke can see her hands shaking.

"It's 207 right there.” Clarke points. “I'll be right behind you." Clarke was only two in the morning, because she’s not sure what would happen if the residents in the surrounding apartments saw her helping an injured Spider-Woman up the stairs.

The hero grips the railings as she ascends the steps, almost tripping at the top. Clarke jerks forward but stops herself once she realizes Spider-Woman is still upright. She eyes Clarke warily as if making sure she didn't see it, but the doctor-in-training quickly schools her reaction.

Clarke finds it slightly endearing the way Spider-Woman is still trying to act tough even when she’s this injured. Endearing but also completely frustrating, if only Spider-Woman would just accept the help, maybe they would be finished already and she would be suffering less. Clarke unlocks her door and pushes it open allowing space for Spider-Woman to enter. Only she doesn’t.

"Uh.. Sorry this wasn't ah good idea. I don't know what I was thinking. I should get going." Spider-Woman takes a hesitant step back.

Clarke struggles to come up with some kind of response, until she ends up blurting out a rushed explanation.

"W-Wait! It's okay I totally understand but you need sutures, and the wounds need to be cleaned or they will get infected and-and you’ve lost so much blood already, you are in no shape to leave. Let me help and you don't have to stay any longer than that. I promise."

The hero says nothing for awhile and when she does, she nods "Alright, fine, but the mask stays on.”

Clarke lets out a breath of relief.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I don't even know if anyone will read this cause I feel like its a little late to jump on the clexa train(or shall I say ship?) I've been here since the beginning but i've just been hiding in the shadows. So this is my first published fic.. I've always wanted to post something I've written, but I never had the confidence and now I'm kinda like fuck it! Hopefully you'll like it and want more! I have several chapters done already so maybe stick around and expect another update in a couple days?  
> Or not... I'm not the boss of you. Anyways thanks for reading if you got this far, Hope you have a great day!


	2. Housecall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke tends to Spider-Woman's wounds and tries to find out more about the masked hero.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just want to say thanks to everyone who left kudos and commented on the first chapter, It made my day! Anyways here's Chap 2, hope you enjoy!

"Great! Please come in, you can sit anywhere, just let me grab my kit." Clarke says running into the other room to grab her medical sutures, bandages and various items to clean wounds. The doctor hurries, her previous exhaustion seemingly forgotten. Clarke returns to the living room, scared that if she’s gone too long, the hero might disappear.

  
Expecting to see Spider-Woman sitting, Clarke is surprised to find that instead, she's awkwardly leaning against wall for support.

  
"Um... You can sit." Clarke motions to her couch.

"I already got blood in your car, I did not want to get blood on your couch as well." The hero says sounding suddenly formal.

"Oh, right." Clarke dashes to the hall closet and grabs an old sheet to lay over the couch.

"There. All good." She states moving over to Spider-Woman to help her. Putting her arm around the injured woman’s waist to help support her weight, Clarke assists Spider-Woman to the couch.

  
Clarke runs a hand through her hair, contemplating what to do next. "Okay, so I need you to strip. You can keep your mask on but I need to see the extent of your injuries so I can help you. We can use the sheet to cover you."

Spider-Woman audibly sighs through her mask. "Can you just cut around where you need? It's a skin tight suit."

"Right. Uh sure but.. Do you have another..?"

"No, I will make a new one."

  
"Well you better take a break during that time, you need to let yourself heal." Clarke brings the scissors up hesitating.

“Are you sure this is okay?” 

Spider-woman only nods.

Using her right hand she pulls the suit away from Spider-Woman’s body and cuts down the length of her collar bone down to her arm with the scissors in her left hand. The material is tough and it takes awhile, but eventually she gets the whole shoulder wound exposed enough to where she can clean and stitch it up.

Grabbing the alcohol, Clarke pours some onto a piece of gauze. “This may sting.” She warns; then proceeds to clean the wound. Spider-Woman has no reaction. The laceration is long, probably six inches, Clarke estimates. The wound stretches from the side of her collarbone to her deltoid muscle. Speaking of, Clarke can’t help but notice how muscular the woman was in front of her and the suit was definitely doing a good job at accentuating it. Well, what was left of it anyway. Spider-Woman’s entire left shoulder and right thigh were completely exposed not to mention all the other cuts in the suit. Finishing up the cleaning of the wounds, Clarke sets out to expertly prepare her sutures.

“Unfortunately, I have no anesthetic to numb you, will you be okay? If you need something I can grab a bottle of Whiskey from the kitchen.” Clarke points her thumb over her shoulder towards the kitchen.

“I’ll be fine.”

“Alright, and before I start, is it possible there could be anything still in there like glass or metal?” Clarke didn’t see anything unusual sticking out or any areas flaring up, but it was ingrained in her to ask anyways.

“No, they were clean cuts.”

Clarke nods and begins by pulling the edges of the cut together and looping the surgical thread through either side. “So what kind of weapon caused wounds like this?” Clarke asks as more of a formality, she already knew it had to be some kind of sword or knife just from looking at it.

“A blade.”

  
“A blade.” Clarke repeats. “That’s not very specific.”

“There were several different types of sharp weapons. I wasn’t focused on identifying them.” The hero snaps, immediately feeling guilty. She was angry at herself for letting those… people get away. She was grumpy, tired, and feeling like shit. Clarke definitely didn’t deserve that.

“I wasn’t- sorry I’m just trying to make conversation.” Clarke sighs and Spider-Woman’s posture immediately softens. She speaks after a moment.

“No. I’m sorry, I did not mean to be rude. You are the one helping me and I just snapped at you.”

“It’s fine. You’re in pain and it must be difficult not knowing who you can trust all the time.” Clarke finishes by tying a knot to hold the wound closed and moving on to clean the next.

Again, Spider-Woman falls into silence.

“If you don’t mind, can I ask why you didn’t just swing home with your webs? Were you too injured? Did you not have any help?”

She tilts her head at the question probably contemplating if she should answer. Instead of speaking she unclips one of her wrist gauntlets and sets it on the coffee table. Clarke pauses and stares at it. It’s essentially a big metal bracelet and attached to it is a small arm that holds another circular metal piece that she assumes sits in the center of the user's palm. It was most likely a button of some sort, maybe the trigger?

  
"So... You are saying you don't actually shoot real webs from your hands?" Clarke had an inkling this was true from seeing different news footage and web videos of Spider-Woman in action but she never thought of what it actually meant.

  
She chuckles. "No. It took a long time to perfect the webs too. And then I had to revise it to  make them biodegradable after the city complained about being covered in industrial-grade artificial webbing."

  
Clarke shakes her head in disbelief getting back to her work. "That's truly amazing." _She must be some kind of genius to make her own webbing._ Clarke thinks.

"I ran out of web today. I was already running low, and on my way to refill when I took a detour to stop three crazy men. They were acting like rabid animals." Spider-Woman wasn’t sure why she was suddenly opening up, must be her getting delirious from the blood loss. It definitely wasn’t the doctor’s beautiful blue eyes imploring it out of her.

  
Clarke’s brows furrow in confusion. "Rabid? We haven’t had any reports of people with rabies at the hospital, or anyone acting like that."

After finishing the stitches for her thigh, Clarke moves onto the second to last cut on her right bicep. Cutting down the suits sleeve reveals black ink on the hero’s arm. A tattoo, and suddenly Clarke wants to cut the rest of her sleeve and study the tattoo or ask about it. All she can see is a couple of black lines.

“I don’t believe it was rabies, but I wouldn’t know how else to describe it.” Spider-Woman’s tone tells Clarke they are done with that topic, so she doesn’t push any further, but she does make a mental note to ask around the hospital for any strange cases of rabies or people acting violent.

After cleaning the smaller cut on Spider-Woman’s thigh, Clarke decides, it does not need stitches, so she puts a small bandage on it instead. Which means her job is almost done, she starts to clean up the mess she’s made.

"Okay, so no getting your stitches wet for 48 hours, unfortunately these aren’t the ones that dissolve, you would’ve had to come to the hospital for that. So, in about seven days they need to be removed. You can come back here anytime-”

“Thanks but I’ll have it taken care of.” Spider-Woman cuts her off.

“Okay.” Clarke wants to argue but only sighs in disappointment. “WelI, I’ll get you some clothes and drive you wherever you need to go, but I really recommend you rest for awhile."

  
Spider-Woman shakes her head. “I need to get going.”

  
"Okay. I’ll just go-" The doctor starts to turn before she’s interrupted.

  
"Wait. Just- I want to say thank you, Clarke."

  
Clarke’s heart flutters at the use of her name. "It’s no problem, I’m happy you finally let me help.” She smiles. “Alright stay here, I’ll grab you some clothes.”

She ventures into her room to find some sweatpants and a loose top so nothing aggravates the superhero’s wounds. When she returns, she hands the scissors and the clothes over to Spider-Woman.

“Bathroom is down the hall, first door on the right.”

Spider-Woman nods, thanking her once again.

  
Clarke returns to the living room not exactly sure what she’s supposed to be doing while she waits, so she turns on the TV. Some crime show plays in the background. Clarke can’t help her curiosity, she pulls her computer on her lap and searches the news section for something on Spider-Woman. Clicking the first link she sees, it opens up to an article with a link to a video.

Clarke skims parts of the article, it was from a couple weeks ago. Most of it was people complaining ‘Spider-Woman once again disappears from the crime scene leaving the mess and aftermath for the police and civilians to take care of.’ Clarke frowns in confusion. She wasn’t aware that some people didn’t like Spider-Woman, she usually only saw the high praise people give her. She clicks the video.

The camera is pointed towards a red blur that zips back and forth around a big green figure that Clarke recognizes as, The Lizard. The news was still talking about this fight even today. A web shoots out to a stop sign which Spider-Woman uses to yank out of the ground to whack The Lizard with. The people recording the video let out various sounds of surprise and cheers. The Lizard shuts them up real quick with a loud roar. The view drops and becomes unwatchable as the person filming runs away. The video stops shortly after that. Another video plays, this one a news report.

The reporter nods her head and turns back to the camera. "While others believe New York City needs her, The New York City Police Department has released a statement demanding that she come forward. To whom she may be no one knows. There has been talk about putting a warrant out for her arrest. If you have any information of the identity of Spider-Woman, please call the anonymous line below. That's all I have for now back to Stephen Lang in the studio."

  
"That’s bullshit." Clarke whispers shocked turning it off. She stands up and approaches the bathroom after realizing it’s been awhile since she’s heard anything.

"Spider-Woman?" She knocks, gaining no response. "Hello?" Clarke knocks again. "I'm coming in." She quickly pushes the door open thinking the hero may have fainted again. The bathroom is spotless. No sign of an injured Spider anywhere. The clothes she provided were gone as well. Clarke peeks her head out, looking down the hall and into the other rooms. Once she walks back into the living room she finds a ripped piece of paper sitting on the counter.

‘Clarke,  
Thank you for your hospitality. I appreciate it very much and I will never forget your kindness. Spider-Woman will be taking a break to let her injuries heal. I’m sorry for leaving so suddenly I can’t afford anyone knowing my identity. I wish you well. I will also return your clothes as soon as I can.  
-SW’

_Usually people don't spell it with an 'e'._ Clarke thinks looking up, her diploma catches her eye that hangs on the wall. Suddenly understanding, she lets out an impressed huff of air.  _Spider-Woman is very perceptive._ Looking back down at the note she notices the handwriting is neat and beautiful, Clarke folds it and stares down at the table disappointed she didn't get the chance to speak with her more. Then she notices the gauntlet Spider-Woman left behind on her coffee table. Clarke smiles and grabs the web shooter and the note to place safely in the drawer by her bed.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay Chap 2! So what did you all think?
> 
> Some Notes  
> 1) I switched the chapter titles cause I made an oops  
> 2) If anyone is interested in getting a better visual of what Spider-Woman's costume and Web Shooters look like, it's basically Spider-Girl's costume. I personally like her suit the best out of all the Spidey's there are out in the Spider-verse (or at least from what I've seen) here's a link to a post from my tumblr to see pictures.  
> http://soccerari.tumblr.com/post/159361724349/httparchiveofourownorgworks10563207chapters  
> 3) There might be some weird spacing in this chapter and I have no idea how to fix it, I tried several different things nothing worked, so sorry about that, hopefully its not too distracting
> 
> Anyways thats all for now and I hope every one is having a fantastic day


	3. Octavia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke finally has some time off from the Hospital and spends it with her best friend and roommate Octavia Blake.

It had been a week since Spider-Woman had been a guest in Clarke’s apartment. In that time she was able to clean her car of the blood, clean the apartment of the blood, have four more shifts at the hospital, and now she was finally off for three days. She found herself sitting on her couch, snuggled under a blanket at two in the afternoon, binging some show about demon revenants and sisters or something.

Even with the distraction, Clarke hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Spider-Woman. It was like she was under some kind of spell, and she didn’t like it. She never really cared what the masked heroine was up to before and now all the sudden she couldn’t get her out of her head. Though she knew it would pass, and that it was only some kind of strange hero-crush she was having. Clarke’s inner thoughts were interrupted by the front door opening.

Octavia enters their apartment in her police uniform rather angrily. “Hey Princess.” She utters walking right into the kitchen forcefully opening the fridge, seemingly rummaging around for something.

“Hey. Is everything okay?”

Apparently that was all Octavia needed before she spouted everything that was wrong with her day, into the fridge, still rummaging. Clarke only caught something about the same hero that was on her mind.

“Wait, wait what about Spider-Woman?”

“The whole precinct won’t shut up about her,” Octavia slams the fridge with a groan, empty-handed. Apparently she didn’t find what she was looking for.

“It’s all Spider-Woman this and Spider-Woman that. Well, she upped and disappeared so can we stop talking about her and just focus on our damn jobs?”

“I thought you liked Spider-Woman?” Clarke turns off the TV and walks into the kitchen sitting at the table to give her roommate her full attention. Octavia continues her rant.

"I do, I think she’s great, it’s the guys at the precinct that are frustrating me. Why don’t we have any food in this apartment?” Octavia changes the subject throwing her hands up in the air and then gesturing towards the fridge.

“Someone is hangry.” Clarke muses.

“Yeah, well I didn’t eat breakfast this morning, I was almost late.” Octavia plops down in the chair across from Clarke.

“Anyways, since Spider-Woman’s been gone criminals are getting bolder and the crime rates are crawling back up again and the guys at work are blaming Spider-Woman."

Clarke stops her there. "First of all, has anyone considered she could be hurt or injured from her last fight? Second of all it’s not her job to take care of the crime rates in this godforsaken city! That's your job! The police? Is that ringing any bell?"

  
Octavia leans back in the chair surprised by her roommates outburst. "Jeez Clarke, are you alright? I agree with you."

  
Clarke's face falls and she sighs running a hand through her hair. "Yeah.. Sorry I didn't mean to get all worked up."

  
"Is there something you aren't telling me?"

  
Clarke shrugs. "I... I'm just stressed from work, alright?"

"Don't give me that. You are always stressed from work." Octavia waves a hand. She knew her roommate and best friend better than anyone.

  
"Fine. You can't say anything alright?"

  
"You know I won't." Octavia scoots closer as if they needed to keep their voices down in their own apartment.

  
"I helped her."

  
"Who?" Octavia inquires, suddenly feeling as if she missed something.

  
"Spider-Woman."

  
"You... Helped her what? Beat those criminals?" Now Octavia was really confused.

  
Clarke gives her a blank look. "No O, I stitched her up and cleaned her wounds. She was limping and hurt on the sidewalk, I offered her a ride."

  
Octavia's eyebrows raise in surprise. "Whoa whoa whoa, start over how did you see her? She was just there?"

  
Clarke nods. "Bleeding, limping, torn apart. I pulled over and offered help she really didn't want it but I think she was ready to pass out. I brought her here and gave her like twenty stitches on her shoulder and thigh. Then she left."

"That's it? Did you find out who she is?"

  
Clarke shakes her head. "No but that wasn't really my goal. I was just helping her."

  
Octavia looks at her incredulously. "Right."

"I'm serious!"

  
"Clarke. You had Spider-Woman. In our apartment. She sat on our couch and you had your hands all over her. And you’re not the least bit curious about who she is?"

  
Clarke smiles at Octavia. "Of course I am, she's amazing but.. I am just glad I was able to help her out."

"Whatever, I know that if I ever met Spider-Woman I would totally die, and like, seduce her or something."

  
"You have Lincoln and you’re straight as an arrow." Clarke deadpans.

  
"He wouldn't mind.” Octavia snickers.

“Oh! Speaking of him, we are going to the shooting range tomorrow and I want you to come."

  
"Ugh really? The last time wasn't enough to convince you that I totally suck?"

  
"You don't suck! You hit yourself on the kickback, one time."

  
"And a shell fell right down my shirt and burned the shit out of my boob! It still hurts from that." Clarke says rubbing her chest to make her point.

  
"That's was a month ago and you shouldn’t have been wearing that low cut shirt to the gun range to begin with. You're going and you’re gonna tell me more about Spider-Woman."

Clarke becomes serious at the mention of her again. “Promise you won’t tell anyone about this right?”

  
"I promise, now Let's order some take-out, before they call me back in."

  
"Sounds good to me."

Before they could move a strange tap on their window startles them both. They both look at eachother confused Octavia steps toward the window cautiously. She pulls the curtain back and looks out the window. A strange round basket hangs from a thick white string blocking the view. The wind blows, pushing the basket against the window making the same sound as before.

“What the hell?” Octavia says as Clarke opens the window and pulls the strange basket inside. It’s made of some sturdy webbing and Clarke notices the clothes she leant to Spider-Woman inside.

A note is stuck to it.

  
'Clarke,

Thank you for your help and letting me borrow clothes. Your clothes are inside and don't worry they won't be covered in web.  
-SW'

  
"Holy shit you were serious?" Octavia says, her eyes almost bulging out of her head as she looked over the note and basket.

  
Clarke looks outside the apartment’s window and smiles.

  
"I wouldn't lie about something like that."

* * *

 

The next day Octavia and Lincoln take up each side of Clarke in their firing lane at the shooting range. They wait for Clarke to take her shots. "Octavia I'm seriously going insane. I can’t stop thinking about Spider-Woman. I just wish I knew if she’s doing alright you know? Ugh, I met her once."

Clarke yells over the loud pops of gunshots from the range around them. Octavia can’t even make out what she’s saying, she only knows Clarke is probably still talking about Spider-Woman.

  
"Okay Clarke, for the last time just point and shoot, like a camera." Lincoln says from her right, trying to get her to focus.

  
Octavia and Lincoln wait for her to pull the trigger to shoot the target. Clarke's eyebrows furrow in concentration. She lines up the sights and takes a breath in. Octavia and Lincoln slowly lean forward waiting for the shot. Until Clarke sighs and drops the gun on the table and turns toward Octavia.

"But what do you think she's doing-"

”Oh my god Clarke! Just shoot the gun!" Octavia and Lincoln collapse dramatically against the wall dividers separating the gun lanes. Clarke turns back to the target and bites her bottom lip.

Octavia thought Clarke helping Spider-Woman was the coolest thing ever, but she also realized that Clarke, like most residents of New York City had fallen for the hero. She couldn’t blame her friend, but she was a little worried about Clarke becoming slightly obsessed. Thankfully Octavia had a plan to distract her from the hero.

"Maybe I could just watch you?"

  
Octavia groans but takes her place anyways. She shoots off a couple rounds while Lincoln smiles at her from the side.

Once Octavia finishes her rounds, she hands the pistol to Lincoln and whispers something in his ear before turning to Clarke. Octavia motions for Clarke to follow her outside the range.

“So, I want to tell you something.” She says taking off her earmuffs sounding serious.

“Did you break the TV again? I swear to god Octavia. You have to stop practicing your weapons in the living room, we have a small apartment, not a dojo. Take it outside for once.”

“No no, nothing like that. I wanted to tell you that tomorrow, we have a date.”

“I’m sorry? We?” Clarke frowns.

“Yeah! A double date. Me and Lincoln with You and Lexa.”

“Who the hell is Lexa?” Clarke crosses her arms.

“She’s a friend of Raven’s, apparently she’s a workaholic like you so we thought you two should meet. Lincoln knows her too, kinda.”

Clarke sighs rubbing a hand down her face. “Octavia no. I’m not ready to be in a relationship, you know I’m focusing on my career, I just don’t have time for that right now.”

“Oh come on Clarke, just do this one thing with us, it’s a double date and if you don’t like her we can totally make up some excuse for you to go. Plus you totally owe me for the whole Finn debacle I got you out of.”

“Don’t remind me.” Clarke sighs, knowing she wouldn’t be able to get out of it now.

“Why this Lexa chick? What do you know about her?”

“She works at a small mom and pop candle shop and apparently she’s really hot.”

“Hold on.. She’s a workaholic at a candle store?”

Octavia shrugs. “I don’t know, Raven said they used to work together at Walcorp and they were engineering buddies until she quit last year, had some personal things to take care of.”

Clarke glares at Octavia. “Sounds like a real catch, Octavia. Thank you.” She quips sarcastically.

“So you’ll come?”

  
“Whatever, fine.” Clarke says leaving Octavia to go join Lincoln again. She doesn’t see Octavia fist pump in victory, texting Raven that it’s a go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stick around for my fav chapter (so far) next! I'll update either Thursday or Friday this week!  
> Hint: Spider-Woman 
> 
> Also still having weird spacing problems. Anyone know how to fix it?
> 
> Anyways,  
> Keep on keepin' on!


	4. A Day in the Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After recovering from her last battle, Lexa works to become an even better Spider-Woman than before, but first she has a couple things to take care of.

Lexa was getting antsy with Spider-Woman’s hiatus, she wanted to get back out there already. She lived for the rush of swinging through the city. _Her_ city. She loved New York, and its people, even the ones that gave her shit all the time, they make her a better hero. It was something she learned to take pride in since becoming Spider-Woman. If people are giving you shit, that means you’re making an impact.

She had finished making her new spider-suit two days ago, it was just a replica of her last one, and her web shooters were done as well. Except the web shooters were a new design, now she could go longer without having to refill her cartridges with the web fluid. The new carousel-like design automatically rotates a new cartridge in place as they are emptied; as compared to her old ones that only held one cartridge. She can now hold up to six, on each wrist. Only problem was she needed one thing to complete her newest batch of web fluid, and the only place she knew where to get it was WalCorp. Luckily someone was getting what she needed already, all she had to do was pick it up.

“Good Morning, Alexandria.” Lexa snaps her head up towards the store room door. In came her bosses; a lovely elderly couple who owned the candle shop she currently worked in.

“Good morning Mr. and Mrs. Baker. I wasn’t expecting you in today.” She smiles surprised, Lexa had taken an instant liking to them when she started working here, plus it was definitely the kind of low-profile job she needed after working for WalCorp.

“Yes, we are getting the holiday scented candles in today and Eloise wanted to be the first to try them out.” Mr. Baker says referring to his wife.

Lexa loved the Baker’s like they were her grandparents, they exchanged gifts during birthdays and Christmases, and they always let Lexa leave early whenever she ‘has a family emergency’.

“Oh! Isn’t it just exciting! Now come here I need my hug.” Mrs. Baker claps her hands together walking up to Lexa and pulling her into said hug.

Lexa would never admit that she too, was almost as excited as Mrs. Baker for the holiday shipment. Frosted Spruce was her favorite seasonal scent and she’d been waiting for it to come back.

A couple of hours later, Lexa finishes unloading the shipment for the Baker’s, who comment on how strong she is. Lexa just brushes off their flattery and goes to stock the shelves. Once she finishes stocking Mrs. Baker approaches. “Lexa, you are free to go for the day, we’ll handle the rest.”

“Are you sure? I really don’t mind.”

“Yes! Yes! It’s Friday, and a beautiful young woman like you should be out having fun! Now go.” Mrs. Baker smiles playfully hitting Lexa’s shoulder urging her forward.

If Lexa learned anything from her time working there, it was to never argue with the Baker’s. So, she instead gathered her things, thanked the two, and left. She was actually grateful to be able to leave early, because now she could go get the web solution she needed.  


Lexa stood outside WalCorp, she never would’ve thought how her life would end up from working here. Being bit by some radioactive house spider in a lab and gaining superhuman abilities? Now that was definitely something she could not make up.

She stepped inside, keeping her head down in case of any cameras and used small crowds of people to blend in. Slipping past security was easy, most of them were already distracted by their phones or talking to the other security guards. All she did was wait for an opening and slip between the two metal detectors. Then taking the elevator, she got off on the engineering department, and walked the winding halls. Some scientists and engineers in lab coats passed her, but most of them were too absorbed in the paperwork in their hands to notice she didn’t exactly belong. Finally she found the door she was looking for and stepped into a familiar lab.

Papers littered the counters on the left side of the room while half finished projects and dangerous looking glowing tubes took up the other side. It wasn’t anything out of the norm for a WalCorp lab though.

Lexa finally lets herself relax when she spots the brunette she was looking for. The woman was hunched over a work bench muttering to herself and slamming whatever she’s working on down on the table.

“Well don’t break it now, Reyes.”

Raven jumps in surprise. “Jesus! Lexa, you really need to not give me a heart attack every time you visit.” She says clutching her chest with a micro screwdriver in hand.

“What are you working on?” Lexa asks leaning against a paper cluttered table taking a peek at some of the titles. Nothing struck her as odd.

“Ah nothing much. By the way, I have what you asked for.” Raven digs out a vial of liquid from her lab coat and tosses it to Lexa knowing there was no way she’d drop it. Just as she predicted Lexa snatches it out of the air and examines it. “I also took the liberty to modify it, so that now it will crystalize your webs making them stronger allowing you to shoot farther and longer than ever. You can thank me now and later.” Raven smirks.

“I fucking love you.”

“I know. Now are you gonna go try them out or what?”

“Trying to get rid of me already? I just got here.” Lexa raises a hand to her heart in mock offense.

“Yeah and you’ll get me in a shit ton of trouble if anyone sees you in here.”

“I’m going. I’m going.” Lexa slips the vial into her jacket pocket and turns towards the door right as it opens. She doesn’t have time to hide before someone walks in.

“Raven, I need those results as soon as- Lexa, what are you doing here?”

“Monty!” Lexa says wracking her brain for some kind of explanation. “It’s good to see you, I was just visiting my best friend Raven Reyes here at work.”

“Good to see you too, but I thought you weren’t allowed up here anymore since you quit?”

Lexa shrugs as casual as she can. “The security guards always liked me, anyways I gotta get going. Bye Raven, bye Monty.” She hustles out of there just to hear Raven call out.

“Don’t forget about your date tonight!”

Lexa shakes her head and starts heading towards the elevators until she sees Dr. Lorelei Tsing step out, without a moment to panic Lexa whips around 180 degrees. _Stairwell it is. What the fuck is she doing on the engineering floor?_

Lexa speed walks to the stairwell pulling open the door and shutting it behind her. She walks to the railing and looks down the gap, sensing no one below she hops over letting herself drop down twenty flights before landing in her signature Spider-Woman crouch. She pauses to make sure her jeans didn’t just rip open, this is why Spider-Woman wears a skintight suit. The door to the level she just landed on opens just a crack before Lexa jumps above the door, her hands latch onto the ceiling as she holds herself against it, not allowing herself to breathe so she won’t be heard. Two men walk through the entrance and up the first flight of stairs.

Dropping to the floor once they are out of eyesight, Lexa finally exits.

She couldn’t wait to get home and get back into her suit. She took the subway. It was hard to go from swinging around the city to using public transportation especially when the guy squished next to you smells like he hasn’t showered in two weeks.

Lexa was relieved to be home without _too_ many hiccups at WalCorp. She quickly added Ravens vial to her web fluid and inserted all her cartridges. She took a little longer than usual putting on the costume this time as the wounds on her shoulder and thigh were giving her problems. She just had Raven remove the stitches yesterday, maybe it was a little too early. Or she could have irritated it from the drop at WalCorp. Lexa didn’t have time to wallow in pain, but she did allow her mind to drift to the blonde doctor as she looked down at her wound that would surely scar. On the other hand the rest of her injuries were healing quite nicely. Finally dressed in her suit she attached her new web shooters to her wrist, and just like that Spider-Woman was back.

She climbed out of her window and shot her first web at the building across the street letting herself swing forward. She let go, free falling for a second before shooting another web and let herself be pulled in a new direction. No one could see it, but Lexa was smiling. There was no other feeling like it. She made her way to her favorite perch in New York, and turned on her police radio earpiece.

She’d gotten the police radio from Indra, the police captain of the 99th Precinct and also her adopted mother. When she first asked for one, Indra slapped her upside the head, but once she proved she’d do good with it, Indra gave in.

The radio finally crackled to life after awhile of sitting around. “10-80. Vehicle in pursuit, heading down Centre coming up to Fulton. Two male suspects in a Black Honda Accord.”

Spider-Woman was already swinging before the dispatcher finished speaking.

She found the vehicle pretty easily, it was hard to miss with the trail of police cars behind it. Lexa drops onto the closest police car and sits on the roof. She makes sure she’s stable enough before shooting a web at the back of the car that’s being pursued. It sticks to the license plate slowing the car down slightly before the entire plate rips off from the vehicle and the car keeps accelerating.

“Whoops.”

Trying again, she shoots a web towards just under the right tail-light and then under the left one, now efficiently holding the vehicle via her web Lexa begins to pull, slowing the vehicle down.

Luckily whoever was driving the police vehicle she was sitting a top of began to slow down as they got closer to the getaway driver. The Honda revved and whirred but it wasn’t enough force to break the web away. Lexa could feel the straining in her muscles and especially her healing shoulder to keep herself on the police car, while also pulling the Honda to a stop.

Eventually the car slowed enough for Lexa to ditch the two lines of web tethered to the vehicle and launch herself over to the criminals car. She makes it a point to land heavier than normal just to give the two people inside an extra scare.

The car slams to a stop making Lexa jolt forward as the two people in the car try to make their escape. Lexa rolls off the hood of the car and shoots a short web at the drivers feet, wrapping his legs together, making him crash to the ground. Turning towards the other, she shoots a line to one of his feet yanking it backwards to where he falls forward. The police finally catch up and begin to cuff the two criminals. Standing up straight and surveying the surroundings, she notices people nearby have stopped walking to watch the scene before them. An older man starts clapping making Lexa dramatically bow to her audience. For the most part, the police are too preoccupied with detaining the two criminals except one, Lincoln.

Lexa knew Lincoln from the gym she used to work out at, they were friendly enough, sharing tips and joking around with each other, but seeing him reminded Lexa of the stupid double date Raven set her up on for tonight.

When Lincoln began walking towards her looking for a statement, she knew she had to leave before he got the chance to speak to her. She couldn’t risk him recognizing her voice, especially if they were going to see each other again in just two hours. So as soon as Lincoln got close, Lexa shot her webbing towards a tall building and swung away.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to all those still reading and leaving comments, they really motivate me to keep up with this story.  
> Hope you enjoyed this chapter, next one is the double date!
> 
> Also hope everyone has a great weekend, and Easter if you celebrate it! 
> 
> (expect next update sometime Monday or Tuesday next week)


	5. Double Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The time for the double date has come

 

Lexa was not looking forward to this double date; she only knew Lincoln enough to be slightly comfortable being out with him, let alone with other strangers. Lexa knew she was in no place in her life where she was remotely ready to start dating again; with the drama finally settling with WalCorp after a year, and still dealing with being Spider-Woman and all the stress that brings, she’s just now starting to accept that she can’t please everyone, no matter how hard she tries. 

Lexa convinced herself that she is just too preoccupied with everything to even attempt thinking about another person. “It would unfair to them” she tells herself. 

She had a plan, Lexa was going to throw the date. She wasn’t going to dress up-too much, and she was going to try to be uncooperative and unappealing. That was the thing about Lexa, she always liked to be prepared even though her time as Spider-Woman has been teaching her that plans don’t last long in any scenario really, but what could she say, old habits die hard.

Lexa was ten minutes late on purpose, as planned, this pained her, as she always made an effort to be on time. Tonight, she was wearing a simple pair of jeans, a long sleeve shirt to cover her still healing wounds, and on top of that a black pea coat, and a grey beanie since it was getting colder and colder as winter drew nearer and nearer. She tried to go for simple so it didn’t look like she was trying, as planned.

She opened the door to the bowling alley and looked around, spotting Lincoln almost immediately, he had an arm around a brunette that she assumed was his girlfriend, Octavia. Lexa had heard of her from Lincoln, but this was the first time they would meet in person. She couldn’t see the blonde’s face who was sitting across from them yet. Lincoln waves her over making his girlfriend look up, she smiles as Lexa approaches. 

Lexa looks at the three at the table. “Hello, sorry I’m-”

And suddenly Lexa knew why Raven wouldn’t tell her anything about her date. She knew she should have never told Raven about the cute Doctor that helped her. How had she even found her?

Lexa immediately stops talking as she makes eye contact with the blonde. 

_ Well there goes my plans.  _ It’s Clarke. Of course it’s Clarke. That’s just her luck. And she’s even more beautiful than Lexa remembers while under her injured spell that week and a half ago.

_ Fuck.  _

Clarke looks surprised as well and it immediately makes Lexa paranoid, she immediately looks down at the table to avoid her gaze.

Lexa’s internal panic continues.  _ Does she recognize me? She knows. She knows! Fuck. She probably recognized my voice.  _

If Clarke really did recognize her as Spider-Woman, she showed no other reaction, which gave Lexa enough courage to take the blonde in. She is wearing a tan colored sweater with a blue plaid infinity scarf around her neck that really brings out her eyes. Lexa was doomed.

Lincoln speaks up trying to help that awkward approach. Lexa froze right when she saw Clarke and seemingly lost all functioning in her body. Maybe Raven and Octavia had got it right this time, as Lexa did seem pretty star-struck by the blonde. At least that’s what it looked like from Lincoln’s perspective.

“Uh, Lexa, it’s good to see you again, this is my girlfriend, Octavia.” He motions to his side.

Lexa turns her body towards Octavia and holds out her hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Octavia.”

“Same to you.” Octavia looks between Clarke and Lexa curiously.

Clarke clears her throat to try to get Lexa’s attention. “I’m Clarke, and you must be Lexa I keep hearing about.”

Lexa turns towards Clarke as if her mother had just used her full name in the way she knows she’s in deep trouble. She swallows and looks down at Clarke’s offered hand sitting in the air.

She returns the handshake and tries to shake off her panic. “Yes, that’s me. It’s nice to meet you. I’m sorry I’m late.”

Clarke waves her off. “It’s fine. We just got here about five minutes before you. Please sit.” She scoots over some more.

Lexa settles next to Clarke, trying to relax. 

“We were just talking about Spider-Woman’s return today. Lincoln was on the scene of the car chase earlier.” 

_ And there goes relaxing. _

“Yes, I heard about that.” Lexa pauses. 

“I mean the erm Spider-Woman’s return not the Lincoln on the scene, how would I know that? Right?” Lexa tries to play it off a joke, but it falls flat on Lincoln and Octavia but for some reason Clarke lets out a short giggle. 

Lexa wanted to roll her eyes at herself or face-palm. She was never this nervous, she was always calm and collected, and she suspected it had something to do with the blue eyes on her from the doctor next to her.

Clarke looked at her confused for a moment when Lexa stood up suddenly.

“Uh sorry.. I’m gonna get a drink, does anyone want anything?” 

Lincoln shakes his head. “I’m good.”

Octavia nods, “Just a beer, please.”

Lexa looks to Clarke, who declines the offer.

Lexa walks up to the bar top ordering a beer and a gin and tonic. 

“Hey, are you alright?” a hand lands on her shoulder turning her around. She meets those blue eyes again. 

“I’m sorry, Clarke. I shouldn’t have said yes to come on this date.”

“Whoa, the date literally just started. Is it that bad already?” Clarke asks in a joking manner.

“What? No! You are so great! I mean..” She takes a breath. 

“I need to be upfront with you. My friend set me up on this date, when I’m not exactly ready to be in a relationship. I have… some stuff I’m trying to sort out and I would not want to drag you into it.” Lexa pauses. “That sounds dark but I promise it’s not anything too crazy.” She tries to laugh and Clarke smiles, shaking her head.

“It’s okay Lexa, I’m actually relieved you said that because I feel the same way. I’m a resident at Polis General and I barely have a life right now, so I would feel bad if I got into a relationship now when I know I wouldn’t be able to spend enough time with them.”

Lexa nods in understanding. “So what now?”

“Well we finish this not-date of course! And worry about the other stuff later.” Clarke smiles taking Octavia’s beer in one hand and Lexa’s hand in the other dragging her back to the table. 

Lexa allows herself to be pulled along and Octavia cheers at seeing their joined hands.

“Who’s up for some bowling?” Octavia cheers and Clarke responds with a small “Woo!”

After they established this wasn’t a date anymore, Lexa was able to really relax and let herself have fun for once. She learned that Clarke was funny and intelligent, they clicked well. 

Octavia was destroying them at bowling and Lexa’s natural competitive nature was suffering silently. She wasn’t too bad at bowling, it was just that Octavia was too good. Octavia was hitting strikes in almost every frame. Lexa trailed with a handful of strikes and mostly spares while Clarke and Lincoln were tied in last place, all gutter balls. But Lexa was pretty sure they were just enjoying the squabble between her and Octavia for the number one spot. 

Octavia had won two games in a row and this was the closest Lexa’s gotten so far to taking first place. All she needed was another strike and she would win this round. Lexa steps up, ball in hand. She takes a deep breath.

“Go Lexa!” Clarke cheers from behind her followed by a smack and a “Ow! What?”

“Don’t cheer her on, you’re supposed to be on your best friend slash roommate’s team.” Octavia says mock offended.

“You have Lincoln on your side.” 

Octavia turns to Lincoln expecting a response.

“Actually I was really pulling for Lexa this time around.”

Another playful smack. “Hey! I’m just joking.” He chuckles wrapping an arm around Octavia’s waist pulling her back in.

“You better be.”

Lexa turns towards the three shaking her head in silent laughter before finally releasing the ball down the lane, putting just a little dose of Spidey strength behind it. Some would say she cheated, but Lexa would say she saw an opportunity and took it. Besides she still had to aim and throw it correctly. That was still her natural skill.

The ball rolled quickly down the center and impacted the pins with a satisfying clunk. It was a strike! Lexa turned towards her friends with her arms raised in victory. Octavia’s jaw was dropped and Lincoln was shaking in silent laughter. Clarke ran up to Lexa to hug her. 

“You did it!”

_ Yeah, cheating was worth it. _ Lexa thought returning the hug, face buried in blonde hair.

That wasn’t their last game since Octavia was a sore loser and refused to end on a loss.

Everyone’s wrists were hurting, and this last game’s scores definitely had the lowest average of all the games they played tonight. 

Clarke lets out a stifled yawn trying to cover it with the back of her hand. Lexa’s stomach flutters at how cute Clarke is but she pushes the feeling away.

“Tired?” Lexa asks.

“Yeah, and I’m back at the hospital tomorrow which is going to suck if I don’t get a good night’s sleep.”

“Well then I’ll be sure to lose this game then.” Lexa winks and stands up to take her turn. She throws a lazy gutter ball and blames it on her sore wrist.

With that, Octavia wins the last game and the four of them shuffle towards the entrance. 

“We’ll get a cab” Lincoln tells Clarke, before turning towards Lexa. “Lexa, want to share?” Lincoln asks.

“No Thank you, I’m close enough to walk.” She smiles.

“Alright It was good to see you again, don’t be a stranger.” Lincoln shakes her hand pulling her into a half hug.

Lincoln and Octavia walk a little ways ahead to call that cab and give the other two some space.

“So.. this was a good not-date.” Lexa bumps Clarke’s shoulder with her own.

“Yeah the best not-date I’ve ever had.” Clarke quips.

“Yeah? And how many not-dates have you been on?” 

“Oh just this one.”

“Well then I’m honored.” Lexa smiles.

Clarke seems like she’s about to say something, but she bites her lip instead. Lexa decides to speak up.

“Uh so I was thinking.”

“Uh oh.”

“Oh hush.” Lexa jokes before continuing. “I was thinking, that maybe, once I take care of all the stuff on my end, and you get some more free time from the hospital, that maybe we could,” Lexa motions between the two of them. “Try to work something out?”

Clarke dips her head, suddenly finding her shoes interesting.

“That sounds like a good plan.” Clarke nods still looking down to hide her smile.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Should we exchange numbers then?”

Clarke nods handing her phone over. Lexa enters her number and texts herself.

“So.. when we get our shit together?” Clarke asks holding out a hand for her to shake and Lexa laughs.

“When we get our shit together.” Lexa confirms, returning the handshake. 

At this point they knew they were being dorks but Clarke couldn’t believe how giddy she was feeling. “I guess this is good-bye for now then.” and in a split second decision she pulls Lexa towards her and presses a chaste kiss to Lexa’s cheek and walks away.

Lexa stands there until Clarke catches up with Lincoln and Octavia and gets into their cab. She turns toward the building and lets her head smack the wall.

“Fuck.” 

  
She was so screwed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh man... I'm so sorry for the late update, my life is crazy right now! I have some big changes coming up. Anyways I hope you enjoyed as always and I promise the next update won't be as long a wait as this last one.  
> Comments are always appreciated as they help motivate me to get the chapters out faster!  
> Alright everyone have a wonderful day!


	6. Reapers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ***Important note at the end***

Two days after the double date Spider-Woman was back on her regular patrols through New York City. She settled a small fist fight, brought an injured bike rider to the hospital, stopped a bank robbery, and took some selfies with a couple fans. She now found herself at the end of her usual route, patrolling in and around Central Park. 

She was swinging through the taller trees, when she decided the day was nice enough to take a stroll through one of the many paths in the park. She was stopped several times by people walking by or children who wanted hugs when she heard screeching tires.

Looking up towards the direction the noise came from, a small white delivery truck had come to a stop on the side of the road closest to the park. Three familiar men stumbled out of the back of the truck holding sharp weapons and shouting unintelligibly. Immediately following this display, the civilians started screaming and running away. 

The back of the truck slammed shut and wheels squealed as the truck began to drive away.

Spider-Woman swung forward, glad she brought her Spider-Trackers with her. She aimed and shot the tracker at the truck as it drove away around the corner, this made it so she could find it later. For now she had a rematch with the crazy rabid people.

First things first, Spider-Woman began clearing the area of civilians. She swooped a child out of the way, quickly escorted an elderly man further away, and directed a car down another route away from the scene.

While Spider-Woman cleared the area, the rabid crazy men were making strange groaning sounds as if they were in pain. One spotted his target and ran towards Spider-Woman swinging his full sized battle axe. Yes a battle axe, right down on top of the hero, who barely ducked out of the way. She threw a punch at his face and shot a web at his foot trying to root him in place. The second man joined in and launched himself closer and swung his broadsword sideways at Spider-Woman’s body. She bent herself backwards in a limbo pose to dodge it before dropping to her knees and tackling the man’s legs, taking him to the ground. His sword clattered against the concrete as he dropped it from the impact. Spider-Woman shot a short web at it to keep it on the ground and then shot a web for each of the man’s limbs, pinning him to the ground as well.

The third man, who was shirtless with a large knife stabbed to his belt, tackles Spider-Woman right off the pinned second attacker. She hits the ground hard wincing as pressure from the shirtless guys arm was digging right into her shoulder wound. She shoves him off and jumps back up.

“Okay you can stop now!” She calls out to the three of them. Battleaxe man escapes the webbing and swings at her again. Spider-Woman soon finds herself backed into a tree as the two remaining men push forward. The battle axe is once again swinging towards her causing her to jump into the tree to dodge it. The axe makes a loud thunk as it lodges into the tree. She shoots the shirtless man with a web to cover his face, and while he yells clawing at his face to remove the web, Spider-Woman takes the opportunity to get a handle on crazy battleaxe man. She jumps down shooting several webs while circling him, putting him in a crude straight jacket made of web. The man struggles and screams and ends up flopping on the ground. Sirens wail in the distance announcing the soon arrival of the police. Lexa shoots the shirtless man still clawing at the web on his face with more web to keep him glued to the ground before approaching the first one she took down.

His eyes are glazed over and he’s snarling at her, saliva foams up at his mouth and drips out. 

“Sir, you need to calm down.” She says trying to get any kind of human response from him. 

He just fights against the webbing and continues snarling. Now that Lexa is closer she sees that it doesn’t even look as if he’s noticed her, but more like he’s staring through her. His eyes are glazed over and his pupils are completely blown. They reminded Lexa of the undead she’d seen on that TV show.

Finally the police arrived on scene and approached with their guns out.

Lexa held her hands up in the air to show she meant no harm.

“Hello, Officers.” She lightly salutes. 

A blonde female officer approaches her.

“Spider-Woman.” She nods as a greeting. “You don’t usually stick around once we show up.”

“Yeah I thought I would make sure you are able to detain these three safely before I leave. They gave me a lot of trouble last time I ran into them.”

“What can you tell me?” Asked Officer Byrne, Lexa identified her from her name badge.

“They are feral. Their eyes are glazed over, they were carrying weapons, specifically a battle axe, a sword, and I think the last has a knife on him.” She nods to the shirtless one who is now in cuffs being escorted away by three cops.

“Do you know where they came from?”

Lexa tilted her head to the side. “Yeah, a small white unmarked delivery truck dropped them off before speeding away.”

Officer Byrne frowns in confusion. “Did you get the plate number?”

“No.” Lexa didn’t mention her Spider-Tracker, she needed to investigate alone before putting anyone else in harms way.

“Did you see anyone driving the vehicle?”

“No. I don’t know anything else. Sorry to cut this short Officer but I have to get going.”

“Now just wait a-”

Spider-Woman did not wait a second before she was already swinging away.   
  


Lexa swung back to her apartment and in through her window. Once inside she ripped off her mask and quickly opened up her computer to locate the activated Spider Tracker. Her jaw locked when she sees where it ended up. 

_ Walcorp _ .

Looks like she’s making a habit of sneaking into Walcorp. Before she leaves she switches out of her spider-suit for regular clothes, but chooses to keep her left web shooter on and under her jacket sleeve, just in case.

This time when she arrived, she was at the back of the building, a safe distance away to where she wouldn’t be spotted. Workers were unloading trucks in the back loading docks. 

When Lexa worked here she never had a reason to come down here, so this is her first time seeing this. She wondered what kinds of things they were unloading. She looked down at her phone to see where the tracker was. It was definitely somewhere here. 

She spotted the truck when she saw Cage Wallace the son of the owner of WalCorp leaning against it talking to someone Lexa couldn’t see. Lexa’s face immediately turned into a frown. Wherever Cage was involved, it was never a good thing. 

Cage nodded at whoever he was with and kicked off the truck where they started walking towards a side door Lexa hadn’t noticed before. Cage took out a key and unlocked the door pulling it open and walking through with his companion.

Lexa bolts over to the door barely stopping it in time before it shuts. She turns the handle down and pushes it closed so whoever went inside could hear the door shutting. After waiting a couple seconds she slowly opens the door again and peeks inside. Stepping in reveals a staircase, like before she looks down the gap and tries to sense if anyone is down there. She senses something nearby but she can’t tell what, only that it’s not good. Lexa decides to walk down, luckily it’s only three flights of stairs. 

Once she gets to the bottom there’s another door with a small window, she looks through and sees a large room with scientists and engineers all working, suddenly it clicks that this was the basement of Walcorp. She had heard rumors of all the sick and inhumane experiments that went on down here. 

_ Sick experiments of splicing human and animal DNA on unwilling test subjects _ . Lexa thought angrily remembering one of the many reasons she quit working here.

It was a big open floor plan except for some offices on the far wall. The lighting was pretty dark except for the giant spotlights highlighting strange machinery that engineers and scientists alike were working on. One area caught Lexa’s eye where three people were sitting looking nervous while a scientist in front of them spoke. 

Lexa was a bit hesitant on entering the area where the scientists were working. She lost sight of Cage and wasn’t sure if she should risk walking in there, but she didn’t get the chance when she heard the door she came in from upstairs open, bolting through, she quickly found a place to hide in the shadows.

A door on the other side of the room opened, catching Lexa’s attention. Out walks Cage and the same man he was with earlier, they were talking about something but again Lexa couldn’t hear, there was too much going on in the giant room. Seeing as the coast was clear, Lexa began walking towards the office Cage had walked out of.

Sneaking over quietly, Lexa made sure to use the machines to block everyone’s view of her. Luckily everyone was absorbed in their work to be too aware of their surroundings, so Lexa wasn’t worried. Once she got to the door, she honed in on her spidey senses to see if she could tell anyone else was in the office. When she concluded it was empty, she slipped into the room.

Filing cabinets lined one wall and a desk sat to the right with papers scattered around and a desktop. She approaches the desk and clicks the computer on. It asks for a fingerprint scan to log in. Lexa surveys the office and sees the half empty glass of water to the right of the computer. She grabs a piece of tape from the desk and curls the two ends together so both sides are sticky. Attaching one side to her pointer finger she finds a fingerprint on the glass and presses the tape into it. She carefully removes her taped finger from the glass and places the hopefully taped fingerprint onto the scanner connected to the computer. 

It beeps and blinks red, scaring Lexa until she realizes she probably has more than one try. She briefly considers that it could be the wrong fingerprint before readjusting the tape and trying again.

This time it blinks green and the computer logs Lexa in.

Breathing a sigh of relief Lexa clicks around, skimming through familiar file names until she comes across an unfamiliar one.

_ Project: Cerberus _

Quickly reading the file Lexa finds this is definitely what she was looking for. The subjects or “Reapers” as the file calls them, are given “Red” an extremely addictive drug developed by Walcorp.The addiction is then used as leverage to make the subjects do what Walcorp wants, once their task is completed, they are then rewarded with more Red. The drug makes the subject exhibit rabid-like behavior, and grants the Reapers with superhuman strength and endurance.

Lexa breathes out a stressed sigh before continuing to scroll through the file. Towards the end she sees the names of people working on the project and her heart stops when she sees the last name on the list.

  
Raven Reyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! I have important news.   
> So I am leaving for basic training for the Air Force this Tuesday and I will be unable to update this story for awhile. With that being said, I am NOT abandoning it. I have plans for this story and I will update once I am in tech school. I'm so sorry to make you all wait and I hope you understand and will still be around when I return! I'm super nervous about basic training but I'm also excited. I was a little hesitant to say anything about it because of everything that's happening with the government and around the world, but I didn't want anything to stop me from doing what I wanted. So I hope you can at least support that.
> 
> Anyways I love every single one of you and I appreciate your kudos and comments! I will see you in a couple months and if anyone has any questions about the story or Air Force or if you just want to say something, feel free to message me on tumblr. http://soccerari.tumblr.com  
> I respond much faster there. At least until Tuesday then I won't have any access to any kind of technology... THE HORROR!
> 
> As always have an awesome day!  
> ~AriPretzel


	7. Through Fire and Flames

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lexa confronts Raven and Spider-Woman saves people from a fire.

“Wait… Isn’t she like his aunt or something?” Clarke asks grabbing another handful of popcorn and stuffing it in her mouth. She was enjoying her much needed day off of work; marathoning her favorite show with her friends. It was the last episode of the season, and it was starting to get late but Clarke didn’t mind much.

“Yeah, but they are perfect together, besides it’s not like they even know.” Octavia responds.

“They are so gonna take the Iron Throne together.” She continues.

“Not if they can’t defeat the White Walker Army.” Clarke retorts.

“Shh!” Raven shushes them. “Just watch.”

Three pairs of eyes were fixated on the screen as the last few minutes played out. The season finale left the three woman in awe as the credits rolled. They quickly dissolved into excited rambling about the next season and what will happen next. While Raven and Octavia were locked in a heated debate about the fate of the Lannisters; Clarke got up and started to clean. She brought the rest of the popcorn into Raven’s kitchen and began to do the dishes, seemingly deep in thought.

She hadn’t even noticed some time had passed when Raven came up next to her.

“You good?” She asks.

“I’m thinking of quitting my residency once I graduate.” Clarke answered, still focusing on the dishes.

Octavia and Raven immediately freeze suddenly really confused. “What?!” They both raise their voice.

“I thought you loved it?”

“I do. But I am thinking about getting my EMT certification.”

Octavia and Raven both let out a breath of relief.

“Jeez you scared me. You should’ve started with that.” Octavia says with a hand on her chest.

Just as she said that the door to the apartment burst open, causing all three girls to jump.

“RAVEN.” Lexa came barging in only to stop short at the sight of three startled girls standing in the kitchen.

“Uh sorry, I- Hi Clarke. Octavia.” Lexa rubs the back of her neck, slightly embarrassed at having barged in. She makes eye contact with Clarke and can’t bring herself to look away.

“Lexa? Are you okay?” Raven asked concerned, knowing she wouldn’t burst in like that unless it was serious. She rounds the kitchen island to take a step closer.

Lexa, remembering why she was here, snapped back to her previous anger. She settles her carefully practiced gaze of disappointment on Raven before clearing her throat.

“Can I speak with you privately, Raven?”

“Uh, Sure.” Raven responds nervously, knowing that look was _not_ good.

Raven, motions to her room. Clarke looks to Octavia, who only shrugs in confusion. They both watch as Raven and Lexa make their way down the hall. Lexa closes the door firmly and locks it, leaving Octavia and Clarke in silence.

“Well that was… weird?” Octavia comments as Clarke nods in agreement.

After a couple minutes of Clarke running her hand up and down the couch making different patterns, she heard yelling coming from Raven’s room.

“I thought I could trust you!” Lexa’s voice is clear and strong.

“If you would just listen to me dammit!” Raven snapped back.

It got quiet and Clarke and Octavia shared another look before they both stood up and crept towards the door.

The two arguing had lowered their voices again but as Clarke snuck closer it was coming in clearer.

“You are getting so reckless. You’re not invincible Lexa and you need someone to look out for-”

“I don’t need anyone to look out for me!” Lexa cuts Raven off.

“Oh cause that worked out so well before!”

“I am perfectly capable-”

“No Lexa. You aren’t! You are so reckless you don’t even realize it and if you didn’t have me you would probably already be in the grave.”

It grew extremely quiet and Clarke got a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. She has no idea what they are talking about, but she feels like she’s heard too much. So she grabs Octavia by the arm and drags her back into the kitchen.

Octavia’s face is scrunched in thought.

“Jeez, who knew a candle store worker could have so many problems right?” she joked trying to lighten the mood.

“She warned me she was going through some shit, but I didn’t really know how serious it was.” Clarke says shaking her head.

The door opens and Lexa storms out, Raven following close behind.

“Lexa, stop! Don’t do this alone.”

Lexa doesn’t respond, she slams the door with her exit, leaving the apartment rattling in her wake. It grows extremely quiet as Raven stands there, still, watching the door as if Lexa was going to come back. When she doesn’t, Raven sulks towards her remaining friends and collapses on the a chair by the kitchen island and huffs a deep sigh.

“I fucked up.” Raven says bringing a hand to her face.

“What happened?” Clarke questions, rounding the counter to offer comfort. She places a hand on Raven’s arm. Octavia takes up the opposite side.

 “I kept something from her. Something I shouldn’t have, but she’s so damn stubborn. She would’ve gotten hurt. I know her.” 

“Then you didn’t fuck up. It sounds like you were trying to protect her.” Clarke assured.

 Raven nods still feeling defeated.

 ____

Lexa hops into the nearest Taxi and rattles off her address and drops her head on the passenger's seat in front of her. She huffs out a frustrated breath.

She couldn’t believe it. Raven worked on a project that almost killed her, worked on a project that would probably kill others if she didn’t stop them. It seemed like Raven really didn’t know WalCorp actually produced it but… they told each other everything. Raven was the one person she could tell everything to and not be afraid of it getting out or having secrets between them, or so she thought.

____

As soon as Lexa entered her apartment she quickly jumped into her costume and launched herself out the window. She needed to blow off some steam and punch some criminals.

Quickly making her way to her favorite spot, she let her feet dangle off the side of one of the eagle grotesque, about three-quarters the way up of the famous Chrysler building. She squinted to see the streets below, there was a heavy fog coming in and it was getting dark fast. She made a mental note to stay low to the ground today. The poor weather only served to add to her sour mood. She switched on her police scanner in her ear and laid back, letting her feet dangle off the beak of the eagle. 

As Lexa laid there she thought over her and Raven’s argument.

_“Why didn’t you tell me about Project Cerberus? That you were working on it?” Lexa asks trying to stay calm. Raven’s face morphs into shock._

_“Wha-how?” Raven stutters out._

_“I found the documents. Your name was on it.”_

_“Lexa I was just a consult, someone to run the numbers by to see if it was possible to even make, a drug like-”_

_“I thought I could trust you!” Lexa raises her voice._

_“If you would just listen to me dammit!” Raven snaps and lowers her voice before continuing._

_“There’s no way that drug could be made without eventually killing people. There’s no way they actually started producing it.”_

_“Well they did, that’s what almost killed me a couple weeks ago!” Lexa whisper yelled. “Why didn’t you tell me about it?”_  

_“Shit.” Raven looks mortified. “Well… one, I didn’t think anything would come of it and two I was trying to protect you. Lately you’ve been pushing yourself harder and harder and you are getting so reckless. You are not invincible Lexa and you need someone to look out for-”_

_“I don’t need anyone to look out for me!” Lexa cuts Raven off._

_“Oh cause that worked out so well before!”_

_“I am perfectly capable of-”_

_“No Lexa. You aren’t! You are so reckless you don’t even realize it and you need me. If you didn’t have me you would probably already be in the_ grave _.”_

_Raven says it with such finality that they both stand there staring at each other not knowing what to say. Lexa manages to gather herself first._

" _I don’t need you. So get that out of your head.” Lexa turns away sharply and rips the door open, she storms through the apartment completely forgetting about Raven’s guests and walks out the front door, being sure to slam it behind her._

Lexa and Raven have known each other since college and then went on to work together at Walcorp, until of course Lexa quit, because of the whole getting bit by a radioactive spider thing.

The point is, they’ve been friends for almost eight years. They were supposed to tell each other everything and Raven kept something pretty important from her. Lexa, even though she believed Raven was truly surprised they made the drug, also felt like Raven was keeping something from her, but then again, she didn’t really give Raven a chance to explain everything. Guilt bubbled in her chest. Lexa sighed and ran a hand over her mask. She decided, once she calmed down she’d apologize and bring Raven See’s Candies.

The police scanner crackled to life.

“Any available units to Frederick Douglas Blvd. 904B.”

_Building Fire_. Lexa stood up quickly, but a sharp movement from behind her caught her attention. A young man in a business suit was staring from the window. Mouth agape, the man’s sandwich bag dropped from his hands as Spider-Woman, amused, threw him a quick salute. She stepped to the corner and let herself free fall backwards off the eagle.

Lexa had done this hundreds of times and each time she still got the same rush and feeling of euphoria from swinging around the city, it always improved her mood. She shot a web towards another building and twisted her body around to put more power behind her swing. She arrived at the scene almost ten minutes later and stayed on the building opposite of the one burning to better evaluate the situation.

The fire department had just arrived and were setting up their hoses. It was an apartment building that had caught fire and it seemed to be growing awfully fast. People were running out of each exit and she could sense quite a few still inside. Lexa jumped across to the burning building and landed on the roof into a roll. She crawled off the edge and kicked in a window before entering the top floor.

Focusing her senses, she tried to listen for anyone trapped, she picked up on quite a few panicked voices and tried to zero in where they were coming from.

Lexa took off in a sprint through the front door of the apartment and into the hallway where the fire was worse. She couldn’t see the fire yet but she could definitely feel it. It was about thirty degrees hotter than normal in her suit. One door opened and a panicked woman ran out with two boys.

“Spider-Woman!” The smaller boy yelled.

“Hi buddy. Let’s get you three out of here huh?” She said to the child.

“I’ll take the kids down and come back for you, It will only take a second.” Lexa says to the mother while reaching for the boy who already had his arms out grabbing for her.

“No, just get them. I can make my own way out. Please check room 8032, Holly has a baby girl.”

Spider-Woman nodded in affirmation. “On it.”

“Thank you, Spider-Woman.”

Spider-Woman motioned for the other boy to follow her into a room, she opened the window and told the older boy to climb onto her back like a piggyback ride.

She shot a web to the roof and lowered them by rappelling off the wall to the ground. She handed them off to an officer who arrived on scene.

“Look after them, their mother is inside. Boys stay with him.” Spider-Woman shouted.

With that, she launched herself back into the building to find room 8032. The building was starting to crumble, and she barely had time to jump over a falling piece of ceiling. Lexa hoped the mother of those boys was able to get out, but she couldn’t let herself think like that, she needed to move faster. Spider-Woman used her webs to sling-shot herself down the hallway, it was just a little more difficult in such a small area, she was used to swinging around the entire city, in a small hallway that’s falling apart? Not so much. 

Finally, she arrived at the correct room and immediately heard someone crying for help.

She kicked the door in and immediately noticed several things. First, she was hit with a wave of heat. Second, the entire left side of the room was up in flames. Third, a woman lay on the floor crying, her leg was trapped under a fallen beam.

“Please! My baby-” The woman couldn’t finish her sentence as she started coughing painfully.

The woman weakly pointed to a door, Spider-Woman ran towards it.

She kicked that door in and started coughing. The smoke was getting to her and fast. Her mask wasn’t exactly helping.

She carefully navigated through the flames to the crib and picked up the eerily silent baby wrapped in a blanket. Lexa couldn’t tell if the baby was breathing or not, so she focused on getting to the paramedics outside. As soon as Spider-Woman jumped through the nearest window, she felt a searing pain on her right hip. Lexa sprayed a bed of webs below her and doing her best to shield the infant, she landed on her back keeping the baby on her chest protected.

Immediately firefighters and police officers rushed over to her. Lexa had no time to waste. With relief, she offered the now crying baby to a firefighter and shot towards the same window to get the trapped woman. 

Lexa’s chest was burning in pain, her hip aching, but she pushed the pain away and moved back into the main room. The woman was now unconscious. Lexa positioned herself to lift the beam only to have the floor cave in below her.

Spider-Woman scrambled to shoot a web and catch the woman before she hit anything too hard. The web gave Spider-Woman enough time to grab the woman and maneuver under her so she would take the brunt of the fall. The woman woke up screaming out in pain which quickly turned into sobs and mumbling about her baby.

“Your baby is okay, ma’am!” Spider-Woman was coughing and scrambling to stand up. She shoved pieces of ceiling off of them and moved to pick up the mother, bridal style. 

“Hold on to me.”

Spider-Woman was getting tired of jumping out of windows, this time she landed okay and no theatrics, but quickly collapsed from pain in her hip. She gently let go of the woman and fell to the side. Again someone came over to help and Spider-Woman quickly stood up on wobbly legs.

“Spider-Woman!” she looked over to a firefighter waving her down.

She shook off the pain and jogged over. The firefighter, ‘Bennett’ his nametag says, is covered in dirt and sweat.

“Help! There’s a stairwell blocked on the third floor!”

Spider-Woman ran in through the door this time while the Firefighter lead the way to the stairwell. They hurried up to the third floor, where she could hear several people coughing and crying on the other side. A big part of the wall had caved in blocking the way. 

“I was trying to clear it out but I can’t lift it. I was hoping you could.” He said.

Lexa walked up about to touch it, before she turned back to him.

“Can I borrow your gloves?”

He ripped them off and handed them over.

“Everyone stand back!” She yells through the rubble.

After the gloves were on her hands, she picked up the offending beam and held at chest level, hip aching. Again Lexa pushes the pain away.

“Can they fit through? If I move, it might make it worse.” Spider-Woman grits out to the Firefighter.

He nods and crouches down to help pull some people through, they were are all covered in soot and ash. 

“Hurry. Please.” Spider-Woman’s hip, chest and arms are all screaming in pain.

“I have to drop it.” Spider-Woman could feel her arms giving out.

“Get Back!” The Firefighter yelled at the last three people left on the other side, who were ready to bolt through. They did as told but seemed more panicked about having the only way out closed once more.

Lexa brought one arm up while still holding the beam with the other and shot her web to the stairs above them and attached it to the beam to help hold it up. Her idea worked, so she shot a couple more to take the brunt of the weight.

“Okay now I should be able to lift it higher.” She grabbed the beam with both hands again and uses her legs to lift some more.

The three people practically jumped through the hole under the beam. Once the last person crawled through Lexa dropped the beam and stumbled back. The Firefighter, Bennett, lead them all out.

Lexa didn’t realize how smoke filled the stairwell was and as soon as she stepped outside and the fresh air hit her lungs she exploded into a painful cough.

Bennett placed a hand on her back. “Are you alright? You should stay and get checked out.” He said gesturing to a row of ambulances and EMTs. 

Spider-Woman waved him off. “I’m fine thanks, Bennett.”

“Thank you for all your help Spider-Woman, we have it under control now.” A man said, who Lexa assumed to be the Fire Chief.

Lexa surveyed the scene before her and it seemed like the fire was still going on but for the most part they did have it under control and she couldn’t sense any more people in danger. There were still firefighters inside checking rooms. Lexa knew she needed to get back to her apartment and rest, she was pretty sure she’d collapse at any second.

She nodded and headed outside of the taped off area, making sure to avoid the side with the news teams. She shot a web to the tall building across the street and went to swing around it when a huge pain exploded in her hip making her drop to the sidewalk. She stood awkwardly and looked around to see if anyone saw. A familiar pair of blue eyes across the street caught her attention.

“Clarke?” Lexa breathed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my Gawd  
> So yes, I'm alive... Yes I survived boot camp but holy shiz nits did I underestimate how busy I would be... Sorry? Im actually really sorry how long this took, in all honesty I definitely could've updated sooner but man has my life been crazy lately and boy do I have some stories. Basic training was like I was living an episode of OITNB. No lie. Anyways hope you enjoyed this update, I tried to make it longer than usual since you had to wait so long but like I said I have lots of plans for this story and I will update soon again for y'all.  
> Have a great day everyone!  
> ~AriPretzel


	8. Nine-Nine!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spider-Woman gets help from Clarke. Again.

Clarke crosses the road quickly. The street lights illuminating the startled hero. Clarke could tell by her posture that Spider-Woman looked like a kid who got caught with their hand in a cookie jar.

“Clarke. W-what are you doing here?” Spider-Woman asks surprised.

“I came as soon as I saw you jump out of a window with a baby in your arms on the news.” Clarke explains. “You’re hurt.”

“I’m fine.” Lexa choked out.

Lexa would curse her lungs for choosing the worst time to make her cough. Her chest rattles in pain from the smoke. It was the kind of cough that wracked her whole body.

“Yes, you sure sound fine, and don’t think I didn’t see you almost fall on your face a moment ago.” Clarke raises her brow in challenge as if daring Spider-Woman to insist she’s ‘fine’ again. 

Lexa is relieved Clarke couldn’t see the embarrassment that was most likely showing under her mask. Her cheeks burned red.

Clarke thankfully takes pity on her and changes her tone.

“Need a ride?”

Lexa sighs. “We’re gonna do this again?”

“I was hoping you’d give in easier this time.” Clarke pauses. “So what do you say?”

Big white eyes from the mask stare back before Clarke notices the slightest of nods coming from the injured hero. 

Clarke leads Spider-Woman around the block, keeping her in the shadows until they get to her car. 

Lexa climbs in and winces in pain when she sits down.

“What is it?” Clarke asks looking over once she sits in the driver’s seat.

Lexa thinks about brushing it off but decides to not be a pain this time.

“It’s just my hip. Think I scraped it on glass or it’s burned.”

“I can look at it if you’d like.”

Lexa thought for a few moments. “Okay.” She was sailing on treacherous waters. Already thinking Clarke might recognize her voice, being around her and speaking more was not a good idea. Though for some reason, Lexa just couldn’t bring herself to say no.

They quiet down for the rest of the ride not really knowing what else to say to each other until Spider-Woman erupts into another coughing fit. She was about ready to rip off her mask but instead she rolls it up just over her mouth and leans away from Clarke to try and take a couple deep breaths in.

“Are you okay?” Clarke asks resisting the urge to reach over and pat her back.

Spider-Woman feeling pathetic can only nod, her breaths coming hard and raspy. As she settles, she rolls the mask back down carefully to feel less vulnerable. 

At Clarke’s Apartment once again, Spider-Woman takes a seat on the couch and waits for the doctor-in-training to retrieve her supplies.

“You can turn on the TV if you’d like.” Clarke calls from the other room.

Lexa clicks it on a second later. The news is on and its covering the apartment fire. Breaking news flashes on the lower corner.

A familiar woman, the one who’s boys she saved, stands there giving her interview. Lexa turns up the volume. _So she did get out. Good._ She thinks.

“-Saved my kids. I couldn’t be more grateful. Thank You, Spider-Woman.”

Clarke walks back into the room with her first aid kit and glances at the TV.

“The city loves you.” She comments.

“Sometimes.” Lexa mutters to herself.

Lately it seemed the city was divided on the issue of the hero or vigilante as some called her. No one could agree if her presence was truly helping or just causing all the trouble to begin with.

Clarke hands over a bottle of cold water that Lexa takes graciously and rolls the mask just above her lips to gulp down the water. When she’s finished she pulls it back down.

“Thanks.”

Clarke nods not mentioning the newfound comfort Spider-Woman felt revealing some of her face. She shakes her head. _She can barely breathe it’s probably not about that._ Clarke admonishes herself.

“I like the changes to your suit. Looks more sleek, I’m just sorry I have to cut it again.”

Lexa doesn’t respond as Clarke brings the scissors to the costume.

“Spider-Woman, you know… If you ever had to… If I ever found out your identity, you know it’s safe with me right?” Clarke asks. Lexa feels the sincerity from her words but isn’t sure how to respond.

“I wouldn’t tell anyone. I understand how complicated things can get if people knew.”

Lexa nods lightly. “Clarke, trust is not something that is easy for me to give.”

Clarke completely understands but she stays silent a few beats while she starts to clean Spider-Woman’s wound.

“I understand. I’m not asking you to tell me, I’m just saying that if you keep getting injured like this, to the point where your life is more important than protecting your identity from me, I’m going to do what I have to.”

Lexa feels a swell of gratification, of pride, of… something for Clarke right then. She tries to reel it in.

Man, is she falling.

The TV catches her eye once again and she sees that the headline has now changed.

“Reports are coming in that authorities have caught the alleged fire starter. Several eye witnesses stated they saw a crazed man enter the apartment complex holding a bottle. It is believed that he created a molotov cocktail before launching it somewhere inside.”

Lexa watches as the camera pans over to the police car guiding the man’s head into the vehicle. She doesn’t recognize the man but he does seem to have that same crazed look as the others she fought before.

“A Molotov Cocktail? Jeez that is.. Not how your typical arsonist starts a fire.” Clarke comments pulling a small piece of glass out of the wound a few inches above the hero’s hip. Lexa breathes painfully through clenched teeth in response.

“Sorry.”

Lexa pushes the pain away and instead focuses on this newfound information.

“I should… I need to go.” Lexa decides wanting to follow-up on the arsonist.

“Whoa, at least let me finish.”

She hesitates but eventually nods for Clarke to continue.

“Could you drop me off at the police station? 99th Precinct.”

Clarke stares at her for a few moments, wanting to ask questions. A million thoughts flood her mind. Why does she need to go there? Is she meeting someone? Is she going to sneak in? Is that where they took the arsonist? She realizes Spider-Woman was staring at her waiting for a response. She nods her head.

“Sure.”

 

* * *

 

Lexa scales the wall to the 3rd floor of the 99th precinct, where she knew Captain Woods would be in her office. She knocks on the window and waits.

Indra opens the window and scowls at her before closing it again to presumably shut the blinds to her office. A minute later the window opens and Indra pulls her inside rather roughly. 

“Ow. Ow, watch it.” Lexa swats her hand away.

“Don’t you tell your mother to watch it. What are you doing here, Lexa?”

Lexa pulls off her mask and takes a raspy breath in. “I need to see the man you brought in, about the fire.”

Indra sends a hard glare her way. “That’s going to be harder than you think. I can’t just take Spider-Woman inside an interrogation room. Especially when there is talk about putting a warrant out for your arrest and what were you thinking rushing into a burning building with no equipment like that?” Indra ends her ramble with a light slap upside the head.

“Alright, Ma. That’s enough. I’m fine.” Lexa says playing off her reaction like she’s not in any pain.

“Look Lexa, you know I’ll do whatever I can to support you but when it interferes with my job like this, I can only do so much.” Her mom holds her hands up in surrender.

“Has he told you his name?”

“No, but we have identified him as Xavier Harber.” Indra reveals straightening her golden name plaque on her desk.

“Can you get me in the room?” Indra looks at her to say no so Lexa speaks again.

“What if you brought me close as Lexa, not Spider-Woman? They know who I am. It won’t be suspicious.”

“What if they catch you in the interrogation room?”

“They won’t.” Indra raises her brow causing Lexa to roll her eyes like a teenager would.

“If I get caught, I’ll say I was looking for the bathroom.”

“Lexa you have practically grown up here, no one would believe you couldn’t find the bathroom.” Indra crosses her arms defiantly.

“I won’t get caught then.” Lexa crosses her arms matching her mother’s stance. They stubbornly stare at each other for a few beats. _Like mother like daughter._

“Fine. As Lexa then, but let me just say this. If the warrant is issued for your vigilante activities, I can’t do anything for you. Don’t come back here as Spider-Woman either. I’m not doing this to hurt you. It’s for your protection. If you-”

“I understand mom. It’s okay. I wouldn’t want to put you in that situation anyways.” Lexa cuts her off to save herself from the long speech.

“Good because If I had to choose between my job and you. It would be you. I hope you know that.”

Lexa takes a breath in. Since day one of the adoption, Indra had embraced Lexa as part of the family. She taught her everything she knew and raised her with nothing but love. Lexa was so grateful for her Mother.

Indra pulls Lexa’s spare clothes from under her desk cabinet and tosses them over. She started keeping some clothes for her daughter after the third time Lexa had barged in needing some kind of help.

Once changed Indra and Lexa navigate the precinct, passing the desks and greetings of fellow detectives and cops who know Lexa as the adopted daughter of the Captain. They go into the elevator, down a floor and around the hall to reach the interrogation room. Indra pulls the cop waiting outside the door aside distracting him with conversation of his wife while Lexa slips in.

A disgruntled figure sits in the chair handcuffed to the table. Shaggy and dirty brown matted hair covers his face. He seems to breathe heavy and stare at her through messy hair covering his eyes. Lexa notices his left arm was wrapped in coban, the sticky gauze phlebotomists wrap around your arm after drawing blood. She files the information for later.

Lexa notes the camera in the top corner of the room but she knows they are only being archived, so she’s not too worried.

“What’s your name?” Lexa asks moving to stand at the other end of the table.

The man does not respond.

“Why did you start the fire?” Lexa leans closer. “Did someone tell you to do it?”

The man whimpers in response. “P...please.”

Lexa’s frustration with lack of answers turns into concern. “Please what?”

“I..I need it. I need more.” The man starts to pull on his cuffs.

Seeing him start to get agitated marks Lexa’s cue to leave. If anyone heard him getting loud someone would come investigate. Lexa taps into her senses making sure no one is on the other side of the door then slips out quickly.

She meets up with Indra a few minutes later where they reconvene in her office.

“I think I have a lead. It has to do with Walcorp.” Lexa explains. “They are definitely doing some shady stuff. I just need to figure out how to expose them.”

Indra nods. “Nothing we have so far points to them at all, so if you’re right we need a reason to start an investigation.”

“I’ll see what I can do. In the meantime, Xavier- He had his blood drawn for a drug screen I’m assuming?”

Indra nods. “He was transported to the hospital before being brought here. He was showing extreme withdrawal symptoms so we are trying to identify what it might be.” Lexa suspects Xavier was under the influence of Red. She just had no idea what Red is really made of so she wouldn’t know what his drug test should look like once it comes back. _Positive at least._ She muses. The only person that could probably tell her was Raven.

Another thought was Lexa needed to start looking at the bigger picture. What was WalCorps’ goal here? Why were they sending out crazed so-called ‘Reapers’ to cause havoc around the city? She didn’t have a clue where to start with that.  

“Which hospital?”

“Polis General.”

“Call me when the results come in?”

Indra sighs but nods anyways.

“This is the last thing I’ll ask of you. I swear.”

“Just be careful, Lexa.”

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm Back! Its been way to long and for that I apologize but I'm already working on the next chapter!
> 
> If anyone even remembers this a few chapters ago I mentioned Indra being a Police Chief, I have changed it so that she is a Captain and also Lexa's adoptive mom. I needed this change to better fit the story so hopefully no one minds or noticed until I just pointed it out. 
> 
> Also I'm trying to get back in the habit of writing and also into the tone for the story so if this chapter was lacking I'm sorry! (go easy on me <3) If you are still around thank you for your /extreme/ patience and for coming back!
> 
> ~Ari


End file.
